Narrowing mechanism for flat knitting machines



Nov. '14, 1933.- K. LIEBERKNECHT 1,935,406

NARROWING MECHANISM FOR FLAT KNITTING MACHINES Filed Nov. 5, 1932 '2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ||l||| v lull] l||||| I lllllll! "II" I v "I" """l I I "m" I I 1 4 F 1 IE E E E El IE! Q E53 INVEN'I'OR BY Y J I W%EY$ Nov; 14, 1933.. K. R. LIEBERKNECHT 1,935,405

7 NARROWINQ MECHANISM FOR FLAT KNITTING MACHINES I Filed Nov. 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jaw M w INVENTOR BY WWYS Patented Nov. 14, 1933 NABROWING MECHANISM FOR FLAT KNITTING MACHINES Karl Richard Lieberknecht, Oberlungwitz, Germany, assignor to Kalio Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application November 5, 1932, Serial No. 641,417,

and in Germany 11 Claims.

In the knitting of the diamond toe, a well known characteristic of full fashioned hosiery, two lines of fashioning marks are produced on either side as a result of the narrowing, the lines on either side running first parallel to each other and at an angle to the selvage, and finally converging to a point. To eflect such narrowing the employment of four narrowingfingers is required instead of the two necessary for ordinary narrowing. These fingers operate in pairs, the two outer fingers effecting the narrowing which forms the outer lines of fashion marks, and the two inner fingers the two inner lines.

At the beginning of each narrowing operation the innermost edge of each of the outer narrowing fingers is spaced from the outermost edge of each of the inner narrowing fingers a distance of one needle. When the narrowing occurs the outer fingers are moved inwardly towards the center a distance of two needles and the inner fingers a distance of one needle, with the result that at the completion of a loop transferring step the outer and inner fingers are in contact, the one needle spacing having been observed by the greater movement of theouter finger. Then the outer fingers are moved outwardly one needle which restores the one needle spacing between the outer and inner fingers and sets them properly for the next narrowing operation of the same character.

For the forming of the pointed terminal section of the narrowing the outer and inner fingers are moved inwardly two needles and one needle respectively, as described above, but the outer fingers are not then moved outwardly the one needle as before. Instead, the'inner fingers are moved inwardly still another needle. the necessary one needle spacing between'the inner and outeriingersbeingregainedinthiswayandthe 40 fingers properly set for continuing this'part of the narrowing.

The present practicev for accomplishing these operations is to mount the outer fingers upon narrowing rods which are positively moved the required distances by mechanism which is well known and will be described later. The inner narrowing fingers, although they, are mounted upon similar narrowing rods, are not moved by any positive independent operating mechanism, the rods being freely slidable in their brackets, but by contact with the outer narrowing fingers. As already stated, the inner and outer fingers are initially separated by a space of one needle. Therefore the inward movement of each of the outer fingers, equal to the spacing of one needle,

December i 1931 will bring the outer fingers into contact with the inner fingers. 'I'hereupon, the continued inward movement of the outer fingers the remaining space of one more needle will move each of the inner fingers also inwardly the space of one (it needle. That is to say, the outer fingers simply push the inner fingers along during the last half of their inward movement. Excessive movement of the inner fingers is prevented by friction brakes and by an indexing device which is supposed to insure that the inner needles will assume the necessary exact position. However, in fine gauge and high speed machines, considerable momentum is imparted to the inner fingers by the sudden impact of the outer fingers. upon them, 70 with the result that the braking and indexingmechanisms cannot always be relied upon to function as they should. Following these movements the outer fingers are moved in the other direction the space of one needle to set the fingers I5 for the next narrowing operation.

The primary object Bf my invention is to eliminate the uncertainty in operation of the inner fingers and to provide forvthem a positive operating mechanism independent of that which operates the outer fingers. I also provide a novel method. of positively controlling'both outer and inner narrowing fingers,

The nature of the narrowing to be performed and one form of mechanism embodying my mechanism is described in the following specification and disclosedin the drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a stocking foot blank illustrating the narrowing required for the diamond toe;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic front elevation of four sections of a flat knitting machine in which my device is incorporated;

Fig. 3 isa diagrammatic partial end elevation along the line A-A of Fig. 2 showing the pawling mechanism for the operation of spindle 11;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the mechanism of Fig. 3:

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic partial end elevation showing the pawling mechanism for the operation of spindle 12;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the mechanism of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the linkage connecting the pawling mechanism for spindles 11' and 12 with the operating cams;

Fig. 8 is a detail view showing the operating cam for effecting the operation of the levers which actuate pawl 60.

As shown in Fig. 1, the narrowing for the diamond toe appears to the eye as two sets of fashion marks in parallel lines a, b and c, d running at an angle to the selvage and each terminating in a point e and f, respectively. To effect this narrowing each section of the machine is provided with a pair of outer narrowing fingers 2 and a pair of inner narrowing fingers 3. Of each pair of outer narrowing fingers one is fastened to narrowing rod 5 and the other to narrowing rod 6. Of each pair of inner narrowing fingers one is fastened to narrowing rod 7 and the other to narrowing rod 8. These narrowing rods slide in brackets 4 which are fastened to the narrowing shaft 9.

To this shaft are also fastened brackets 10 carrying bearings for reversely threaded spindles 11 and 12. A pair of internally threaded nuts 13 and 14 engage the respective threads of spindle 11. Narrowing rods 5 and 6, to which the outer fingers are respectively attached, are provided with stops or abutments 15 and 16. Springs 15 and 16 respectively connect the abutments to their corresponding stops, and adjusting screws 15 and 16 respectively, provide means of establishing a definite spacing between each abutment and its respective nut. In this way narrowing rods 5 and 6 are positively, but adjustably, connected to nuts 14 and 13 respectively.

When spindle 11 is rotated nuts 13 and 14 will be moved towards or away from each other carrying rods 5 and 6 and narrowing fingers 2 with them. Rotation is imparted to spindle 11' through a pawling mechanism, to be later described, which operates upon ratchet wheels 17 and 17 keyed to spindle 11. 7

Nuts 18and 19, similar to nuts 13 and 14, en-

' gage with the other spindle 12 and are similarly connected to the narrowing rods 8 and 7 respectively which carry the inner narrowing fingers 3. By rotating spindle 12 the inner narrowing fingers may also be made to approach or move away from each other. This is done by a pawling mechanism acting upon ratchet 22 attached to spindle 12 generally similar to that which opgrates ratchet 17, but entirely independent thererom.

By means of these mechanisms the upper portion of the fashioning of the diamond toe, characterized by the parallel rows of fashion marks is formed by first spacing inner fingers 3 one needle apart from inner fingers 2 and then simultaneously moving outer fingers 2-inwardly two needles and the inner fingers one needle. Thereafter outer fingers 2 are moved outwardly one needle to position them properly for the next narrowing operation. The inner fingers 3, having been moved inwardly only one needle, will then be separated from the outer fingers by a space of a single needle and hence are in position for the next narrowing operation without further adjustment.

When this portion of the narrowing is completed and the terminal portion is to be formed, the operation is altered so that the outer line of fashion marks runs parallel to the-selvage and the inner line substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stocking, as will be seen from Fig. 1. To effect this narrowing the outer fingers 2 are moved inwardly a distance of two needles and are then permitted to stay there instead of being moved back one needle, and the inner fingers 3 which have been moved inwardly a distance of only one needle, as heretofore described, are moved inward still another needle Qrder to regain the necessary one needle spacing between the inner and outer fingers.

All of this is accomplished by mechanism which imparts positive movement to all of the narrowing fingers and which does away with the unsatisfactory and unreliable brakes and indexin devices which had heretofore been indispensable to secure exact positioning of the inner fingers. The load upon spindle 11, now being uniform throughout its operation since it no longer has to move the inner fingers, the spindle will wear and operate better than when the load is suddenly doubled midway of its operation as in the past.

The mechanism by which spindle 11 is operated, as above described, may be of numerous types. The one which I have selected for pur-' poses of illustration is as follows: As already stated spindle 11 is provided with a ratchet wheel 17. Swingably mounted upon the spindle as a pivot, and so as to engage with the teeth of ratchet wheel 17, is a pawl 23. A connecting rod 24 connects pawl 23 with one arm 25 of hell crank26 swingablymounted upon narrowing shaft 27. To the other arm 28 of bell crank 26 is connected one end of a link 29, the other end of which is connected to a cross-head 30 slidably mounted in suitable guides in a bracket 31 which is fixed upon narrowing shaft 27. Another conneoting rod 32 joins cross-head 30 with one arm 33 of a second bell crank 34 rockably mounted upon any convenient part of the frame. The other arm 35 of bell crank 34 carries a cam roller 36 positioned so as to ride upon cam 37 keyed to main cam shaft 38. A spring 39 serves to insure positive engagement between cam 37 and its cam wheel 36 at all times. The pawling mechanism described is isolated from any infiuence from the dipping of the narrowing head through the ability of link 29 and connecting rod 32 to change their angular relationship whenever, through the dipping of the narrowing head and the consequent displacement of the pawl 23 and its connecting rod 24, there would be a tendency for the pawl to move with respect to the ratchet teeth. Such tendency is overcome by increasing or lessening the angle between link 29 and connecting rod 22. The linkage between cam 37 and rod 24 will of course be so designed with respect to the length of rod 24 and the radius of rotation of pawl 23 upon shaft 27 as to effect this compensating action.

As already stated, in that part of the narrowing which results in the formation of parallel lines of fashion marks, outer fingers 2 are moved forward inwardly two needles and then outwardly one needle. The means for effecting this is shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4. The pawl heretofore designated generally by the numeral 23 consists, in fact, of two pawls 40 and 41 pivoted upon a bracket 43 which is swingably mounted on spindle 11. Pawl 40 engages with ratchet wheel 17 to rotate it and, consequently, spindle 11 in one direction (assumed in the drawings to be clockwise and for moving the outer fingers inwardly). The other pawl 41 engages with ratchet 140 wheel 17 to rotate it and spindle 11 in the other direction. Motion is imparted to these pawls through rod 24 and the linkage to cam 37 already described.

Cam 37 is so designed that it can move pawl 40 forward sufliciently to rotate spindle 11 and to move nuts 13 and 14 inwardly the distance of two needles and will then draw pawl 41 back to its original position. The normal result of these motions would be to move nuts 13 and 14 inpart of its forward and rearward motion, and

to limit its effect upon ratchet 1'7 to that necessary'to move-the nuts a distance of one needle outwardly.

The mechanism which I have illustrated for this purpose consists of a cam plate 44 loosely mounted upon spindle 11 adjacent ratchet wheel 17*. This cam plate is so shaped that when it is swung upon its axis a portion of its surface 47 may be made to engage with a pin 54 projecting from pawl 41 and through such engagement to lift pawl 41 out of contact with its ratchet 17 Attached to cam plate 44. is a link 45 which connects with an arm 46 fixed upon a rock shaft 48. Another arm 49 is also fixed to rock shaft 48. Obviously, if arm 49 is rocked, shaft 48 and arm 46 will be correspondingly rocked with the result that cam plate 44 will be rotated around its axis and its cam surface 4'7 will be caused to approach or move away from pin 54 on pawl 41.

Through this mechanism and other mechanism to be described, cam plate 44 is made to lift pawl 41 outof engagement with its ratchet 1'7 during the forward movement of the pawls and ratchets and to keep it out of engagement during the following rearward movement until it has cleared the tooth with which it was originally engaged and then to allow. it to engage with the next tooth to the rear, with the result that spindle 11 will be rotated only half the distance in the reverse direction that it was in the forward direction, and nuts 13 and 14 will be moved outwardly only half the distance that they were moved inwardly.

The above description assumes that each tooth of the ratchets equals a one-needle movement of the nuts. This, of course, is not necessarily so. If more teeth are involved in the operation described, then pawl 41 will be allowed to engage with only half of them during the reverse operation so as to obtain only one-half as much movement as during the initial operation.

To effect the rocking of arms 49 and 46 and the proper rotation of cam plate 44, as above described, I provide the following mechanism:

Upon nut 14 (or 13) I mount a plate 50 having high portions 52 and 53 and an intermediate low portion 51. Arm 49 is positioned on rock shaft 48 so as to engage with plate 50, positive engagement being insured by a coil spring 56 attached to rock shaft 48 in any suitable way and to some stationary. part of the machine,one of the brackets in which the shaft is mounted, for example. During that part of the narrowing which results in the parallel lines offashion marks, arm 49 rides upon the low portion 51 of plate 50. As a result, cam plate 44 will be positioned so that as rod 24 moves the pawls forward or in a clockwise direction pin 54 of pawl 41 will engage with cam surface 47 of cam plate 44, will ride up upon it, and the pawl will be disengaged from its ratchet 17'.

When rod 24 draws the pawls rearwardly, pawl 40 will, of course, have no effect upon its ratchet 17, and pawl 41 will also be ineffective during the first portion of this rearward movement or until it has passed off from cam surface 4'? of cam plate 44 and engaged again with a tooth of its ratchet 17 As already stated, this will occur when the pawls have receded one-half of their effective distance, with the result that pawl 41 will then rotate its ratchet 1'7 and spindle 11 one half as much as pawl 40 rotated its ratchet and spindle 11 in the other direction. In this way the desired two-needle forward and oneneedle backward movement of spindle 11 is obtained.

When the end of this portion of the narrowing is reached and the formation of the terminal point is to be begun, the movement of outer fingers 2 is changed. As already explained, these fingers then move inwardly the space of two needles during each narrowing cycle, and do not move outwardly as theretofore. To accompany this change in action, cam plate 44 is swung still further in a counter-clockwise direction so as-to keep pawl 41 out of engagement with its ratchet 1'7 throughout the entire rearward motion of the pawl operating mechanism. Since pawl 40 has no effect upon its ratchet in this direction, there will be no counter rotation of spindle 11, and consequently the outer fingers 2 which have been moved inwardly a distance of two needles, as already described, will remain in that position and will not be moved outwardly.

The additional rotation of cam plate 44 required for thus maintaining 41 out of engagement with its ratchet during the entire reverse operation, is effected through the mechanism already described and occurs when arm 49 passes from the low portion 51 of plate 50 onto the high portion 52. This results in a rocking of arm 49, shaft 48 and arm 46, and'the counter-clockwise rotation of cam plate 44 already described. The length of low portion 51 of plate 50 is, of course, such that arm 49 will ride upon it throughout the parallel narrowing, and the length of high portion 52 of plate 50 is such that arm 49 will ride upon it throughout the formation of the terminal point of the narrowing. Also, arm 49 will, of course, be positioned upon shaft 48 so that it will first engage with low portion 51 at the beginning of the parallel narrowing. The high portion 53 is provided to render backwardpawl 41 inoperative when making the gusset sole narrowing shown by dotted lines in the upper portion of Figure 1, where only the wide fingers are in use and are moved two-needles inwardly only and not outwardly. This is customary practice and is well understood in the art.

Cam 3'? which operates pawls 40 and 41 will, of course, be so positioned "upon the main cam 130 shaft 38 that it will be shifted into operating position when the camshaft is longitudinally shifted in the usual manner at the beginning of the narrowing. At other times cam roller 36 will ride upon an adjacent round cam upon the main cam shaft. This arrangement is well known to those skilled in the art and requires no further description.

As already explained, spindle 12 which operates inner fingers 3 in a-manner generally simi-. lar to that in which spindle 11 operates the outer fingers 2, is rotated during the first stages of the narrowing, the parallel portion, so as to move the narrowing fingers inwardly the space of oneneedle during each narrowing cycle and during the formation of the point so as to move them inwardly first the space of one needle, and then after that particular narrowing operation is completed the space of another needle to regain the essential one-needle spacing between the outer and inner fingers.

These movements are also effected by a cam actuated pawling mechanism operating upon ratchet 22 fixed to spindle 12. Since the motion of the fingers is always inward, a single pawl 60 and single ratchet 22 is all that is required. Pawl 60 is mounted upon a bracket to swing about spindle 12 in exactly the same manner as pawl 40 swings about spindle 11, and it is operated through a system of levers identical to those shown in Fig. 7 for the operation of pawl 40, and by a cam 37a corresponding, except in contour,

with cam 3'7. The contour of this cam is such as to provide for a forward motion of pawl 60 suflicient to rotate spindle 12 enough to move inner fingers 3 inwardly first the space of one needle and then the space of an additional needle, the two movements being separated by a time sufficient to permit the final dipping of the narrowing fingers, as will be understood by any one skilled in the art.

As with cam 37, this cam is so positioned that it comes into operation with the shifting of the cam shaft for narrowing and rides upon an adjacent round cam at other times.

This complete motion of inner fingers 3 occurs only during the formation of the terminal point. During the prior formation of the parallel narrowing only one-half of the motion is required since the inner fingers are moved inward only the space of a single needle during each narrowing cycle. To control these motions of the inner fingers, I provide a mechanism generally 'similar to that which controls the outer fingers and which has already been described; that is to say, a cam plate '70 is rotatably positioned upon spindle 12 adjacent ratchet 22, and having a cam surface '71 of such contour that it will engage with a pin '72 in pawl 60 at certain times. Upon nut 18 is mounted a plate '73 similar to plate 50 having high portions '74, '75 and a low portion '76. Cam plate '70 is operatively'connected with plate '73 by means of a link '77 and arms '78 and '79, both of which are fixed to a shaft 80. Arm '79 is positioned on shaft so as to engage with plate '73 and is maintained in engagement therewith by means of a coil spring 81 attached to rock shaft 80 and to some stationary part of the machine (such as a bracket 10) It will be noted that this mechanism is similar to that related to the operation of the outer narrowing fingers.

The length of high portion '74 of plate '73 is such, and the position of arm '79 upon shaft 80 is such, that arm '79 will ride upon portion '74 throughout the formation of the paralle narrowing. As a result, cam plate '70 will be rotated in a counter-clockwise direction sufficiently to cause cam surface '71 to engage with pin '72 upon pawl 60 to lift pawl 60 out of engagement with its ratchet 22 after it has rotated the ratchet a. sufficient distance to produce an inward movement of inner fingers 3 equal to the space of one needle. During the remainder of the forward motion of pawl 60 pin 72 rides upon cam surface '71, keeping the pawl out of engagement with its ratchet 22 so that no further movement of the ratchet or inner fingers occurs. In this way, the movement of the inner fingers during the parallel narrowing is restricted to an inward movement equal to the space of one needle during each narrowing cycle.

When the beginning of the point narrowing is reached and the time comes for moving the inner fingers inwardly the space of two needles, arm

.numeral 82.

'79 passes from high portion '74 of plate '73 to low portion '76 of plate '73. This results in the rocking of cam plate '70 in a clockwise direction sufiiciently so that pawl 60 is entirely freed from contact with it at any stage.

Therefore, since the operating cam, by means of which pawl 60 is controlled, is shaped so as to provide for first a rotation of ratchet 22 sufficient to produce a one-needle inward movement of inward fingers 3 followed at the proper point in the narrowing cycle by another rotation of equal amount, the necessary movement of the inner fingers for the formation of the point narrowing is provided for. Of course the length of the low portion '76 of plate '73 will be such that arm '79 will ride upon it throughout the formation of the point; to begin the next set, the nut 18 is normally rocked backward so that lever '79 rides on high part '74 when the toe narrowing begins During each cycle of this portion of the narrowing, one of the narrowing points on each of the inner fingers is prevented from operating by means of the well known covering knife, so that the number of points in operation is gradually diminished from the full complement to a single 1 point. This operation is well known to those skilled in the art and requires no further description.

An indexing head is associated with the ratchets on both spindles, that relationg to spindle 11 being designated by the numeral 81, and that associated with spindle 12 being designated by the These indexing heads, as is well known, insure that the spindles move an exact distance under the operation of the pawls, and 1 each consists of a circular plate aflixed to the spindle so that it will rotate with it and having slots 33 in its edge spaced apart a distance equivalent to a one-needle movement of the nuts.

A spring pressed pin 84 is mounted on some 1 convenient stationary part of the machine so as to ride upon the edge of the plate and engage with the slots. The sides of the slots slope outwardly from the bottom towards the top, and the engaging end of the pin is beveled. The spring tends to 1 force the pin into the slot and should be strong enough to impart rotation tothe spindle as soon as the end of the pin engages with the upper portion of a side of a slot. As a result, as soon as the pawl has advanced the ratchets and the 1 indexing plate sufficiently to cause this engagement between the pin and the upper portion of the side of a slot, the pressure of the spring will drive the pin down the side of the slot to its bottom, and the spindle will be abruptly rotated to 1 this extent and will be stopped at the exact position desired. Further rotation in either direction is eifected by the pawls as above described, the pins of the indexing heads climbing out of the slots as the ratchets are rotated by the pawls. 1

It will be noted that the'indexing head takes up the burden of rotation before the pawl has reached the limit of its movement with respect to the tooth with which it happens to be engaged. In other words, the ratchet runs ahead 1 of the pawl at this point. This makes it possible to lift the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet teeth, as heretofore described, at a time when it is not in operating engagement therewith so that no irregular or undesired motion is imparted to the ratchet during the disengaging operation.

In the drawings the indexing heads have been shown with large and relatively widely placed slots for the sake of clarity.

In actual practice with the high portions of plates 50 and '73 to conthe sides of these may be vertical.

' ing from the scope and spirit thereof.

tact with the low portion to these plates, or vice versa, should be abrupt. Consequently, the inner faces connecting the high and low portions should be as nearly vertical as is consistent with permitting the arms to move upon them. A very slight angle will be found to be suificient or other means may be provided for lifting the arms out ofthe recess between the high portions so that Such means may readily be devised by any skilled mechanic and, since they form no part of my invention, need not be described.

As a means of resetting the narrowing fingers for the beginning of the narrowing of another stocking, I show diagrammatically in Fig. 2 the usual hand cranks and bevel gears by means of which the spindles may be manually rotated so as to rack the nuts thereon outwardly the necessary distance.

The mechanisms heretofore described represent a form of my invention selected for purposes of description. only. The invention is not intended to be in any way limited thereto since many modifications are possible without depart- I claim:

1. In.a flat knitting machine provided wit four narrowing fingers in each section arranged in pairs, each pair consisting of an outer and an inner finger, a pair of rotatable spindles each having reversely threaded portions, a pair of nuts threadedly engaged respectively with the portions of one of said spindles and each operatively attached toian outer narrowing finger, a second pair of nuts threadedly engaged respectively with the portions of the other spindle and each operatively connected to an inner narrowing finger, positively actuated means for rotating- .saidouter finger spindle to traverse said nuts whereby said outer fingers are moved toward or away from each other, and independent positively actuated means for rotating said inner finger spindle to traverse said inner. finger nuts to move the inner fingers toward or away from each other independently of the movement of said outer fingers. 2. In a fiat knitting machine provided with four narrowing fingers in each section arranged in pairs, means for moving said inner fingers toward or away from each other independently of the movement of the outer fingers, which includes a reversely threaded spindle, operating connections between said spindle and said inner fingers for imparting equal and simultaneous motion to each of said fingers in opposite directions, said connections being actuated by a ratchet attached to said spindle, a pawl for operating said ratchet, a'cam on the main cam shaft, and means operatively connecting said cam and said pawl for operating said pawl to turn said ratchet.

3. In a fiat knitting machine provided with four narrowing fingers in each section arranged in pairs, a reversely threaded spindle, a nut threadedly engaged with each section of said spindle, a cam actuated pawl and ratchet on said spindle, a cam for operating said pawl to turnsaid ratchet, a cam plate on said nut, and means associated with said pawl and said cam plate for controlling the action of said pawl by means of said cam plate.

4. In a fiat knitting machine provided with four narrowing fingers in each section arranged in pairs, a reversely threaded rotatable spindle, a nut on each portion of said spindle operatively connected to an inner narrowing finger, a ratchet on said spindle, a pawl for rotating said ratchet,

means for operating said pawl which imparts a definite forward movement to said pawl, and means for disengaging said pawl'from said ratchet to limit the rotating eifect of said pawl upon said ratchet to less than its maximum.

5. In a fiat knitting machine provided with four narrowing fingers in each section arranged in pairs, a reversely threaded rotatable spindle, a nut on each portion of said spindle operatively connected to an inner narrowing finger, a ratchet on said spindle, a pawl for rotating said ratchet, means for operating said pawl which imparts a definite oscillatory movement to said pawl, and means for disengaging said pawl from said ratchet to limit the rotatingeflfect of said pawl upon said ratchet to less than its maximum, said last mentioned means being operated by one of said nuts.

6, In a fiat knitting machine provided with four narrowing fingers in each section arranged in pairs, a rotatable reversely threaded spindle, a nut engaged with each section of said spindle and operatively connected to one of said inner fingers, a ratchet on said spindle, a pawl associated with said ratchet, a cam for operating said pawl, levers connecting said cam and said pawl, a cam plate rotatably mounted on said spindle and engageable with said pawl, and means for rotating said cam plate to. engage it with said pawl and lift the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet spindle.

'7. In a flat knitting machine, a reversely threaded rotatable spindle and a pair of nuts mounted thereon for operating a pair of inner narrowing fingers, means for intermittently rotating said spindle a definite amount, and means controlled by one of said nuts for varying the amount of rotation of said spindle when the nuts are in different positions on said spindle.

8. In a fiat knitting machine having four narrowing fingers in each section arranged in pairs, each pair consisting of an .inner and an outer finger, a nut operatively connected to one inner finger, a nut operatively connected to the other inner finger, means for moving said nuts toward each other a definite distance, and means controlled by one of said nuts for altering" this distance of movement to another definite distance.

9. In a fiat knitting machine having a pair of inner narrowing fingers in each section, a reversely threaded rotatable spindle, a nut threadedly engaged with each portion thereof and operatively connected to an inner finger, means for rotating said spindle a definite distance, and means for limiting the rotation of said spindle to one-half said distance.

10. In a fiat knitting machine having a pair of inner narrowing fingers in each section, a reversely threaded rotatable spindle, a nut threadedly engaged with each portion thereof and operatively connected to an inner finger, a ratchet in said spindle, apawl for turning said ratchet, means for operating said pawl to turn said ratchet a definite distance, and means for disengaging said pawl from said ratchet when said ratchet has been turned one-half of said distance when said nuts are in definite predetermined positions on said spindle.

a cam plate swingably mounted on said spindle and having a surface engageable with said pawl, and means controlled by a cam plate on one of said nuts for swinging said cam plate into engagement with said pawl to disengage it from said ratchet when said nuts reach a. predetermined point on said spindle and keep it disengaged until said nuts reach another predetermined point on said spindle.

KARL RICHARD LIEBERKNEC HT. 

